Are you getting ready for Halloween? We definitely are! The store is decorated, we have pumpkins in the farm shop, our Halloween virtual reality ride is underway, and we have Rainbow Trust here all week holding a fantastic range of activities!

We have some great tips and ways you can get in the spirit of Halloween.

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving is not only fun, but they can look great outside your front door and you don't have to be an artist! We have put together some tips below to help you master pumpkin carving.

  • Start by washing the pumpkin to get all dirt and dust off. 
  • Make sure the hole you cut at the top is neat and don't chop up the stalk as you'll want to use it as a lid.
  • Scoop out the inside and save the pumpkin seeds and pulp for other recipes.
  • Print out a design template if you don't feel confident enough to free-hand draw.
  • Stick it to the pumpkin and use a fork to line the design and prick holes to give you guidelines.
  • Be careful when carving your design and wash out with water at the end to get any bits and juice out.
  • Then add a tealight and light from the front of the design.

Halloween Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

  • 750g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
  • 350g sweet shortcrust pastry
  • plain flour, for dusting
  • 140g caster sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp fresh nutmeg, grated
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 25g butter, melted
  • 175ml milk
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar

 

Method

  1. Firstly, heat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius(Fan).

  2. Fill a kettle with water up to the maximum level, then once bought to a boil, pour it into a large saucepan. Place your pumpkin chunks into the saucepan and make sure the water is covering it. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Once cooked, leave to cool.
  3. Flour a flat surface and roll out the pastry. Then line it in a 22cm loose-bottomed tart tin and chill in the fridge for 15 mins. Then before baking for 15 minutes, line the pastry with parchment paper and baking beans. After 15 minutes, take the paper and beans out and cook for a further 10 mins until the base is pale and golden. Finally, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
  4. Increase the oven to 200 degrees Celcius (Fan) and push the cooled pumpkin through a sieve into a large bowl. Then in a separate bowl, combine the sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half the cinnamon. Mix in the beaten eggs, melted butter, and milk, then add to the pumpkin purée. Stir to combine, then pour it into the tart shell and cook for 10 mins, then reduce the temperature to 160 degrees Celcius (Fan) and continue to bake for 35-40 mins until the filling has just set.
  5. Take the pie out of the oven and leave to cool, then remove the pie from the tin. Mix the remaining cinnamon with the icing sugar and dust over the pie and serve chilled.

Virtual Reality Cart Ride

This virtual reality experience in our garden centre offers a perfect family attraction all year round! Housed in a haunted barn*, once aboard, you’ll be seamlessly transported into the virtual haybarn using our HD VR headsets. Your intrepid journey will soon begin, along with the incredible range of motions our cart has to offer; two front fans and surround sound for a fully immersive 4D experience. Tilting forwards, backwards and side to side, the cart’s movements have been specially designed to mirror those of the full 360-degree experience, creating a truly spooktacular journey for all the family.

Book online here

 

Rainbow Trust Activities

Join us from the 24th- the 31st October for some fun Halloween games and activities with Rainbow Trust

HALLOWEEN CRAFT ROOM

Love all things Halloween, and arts & crafts? Head to our kitted-out Halloween craft room to try a whole host of activities!

TERRIFYING TARGETS

Fancy yourself as a ghostbuster? Shoot as many ghosts as you can, and get to the top of the leaderboard for a scarily good prize!

HOOK A  PUMPKIN

Have you got the skills and nerve? Hook a pumpkin and if your lucky number comes up you’ll win a Halloween treat!

GUESS THE PUMPKIN

Why not pop in and enter our charity competition? All you have to do is guess the weight of our pumpkin. The closest at the end of the week wins a prize that’s even bigger than the pumpkin!

All donations go to the Rainbow Trust 

  • The craft room, and hook a pumpkin are only available from the 24th until the 29th

 

No booking required, please see event page for more info